Pages

January 13, 2016

Organization Station: How I Use My Planner

The nerd in me loves January for one reason...New Year, New PLANNER! What? Yes, ok, it's not THAT exciting to most, but it is to me, ok?!

So, today, I'm showing you how I keep my life organized using this Sugar Paper Planner from Target!

The first thing you'll stop at when you're looking through my planner (no one is allowed to do this, btw...it's basically my diary) is my Photography Bucket List. You know those pages at the front of the planner that you never use? The ones with spaces for information you never fill in like your doctor's name? Instead of using this page for it's intended purpose, I replaced it by typing out my Photography Bucket List (photos that I want to capture throughout the year) and taping the page in this spot. You can use this for any type of list that you may have. I'm the queen of lists, so...yeah.

Next, there's a page for contacts. Who uses that? Not me. So, again, I created my own page. Here, I keep all of my usernames for any website I ever sign up for because I never remember them.

There are other pages that aren't used often that you can replace with your own pages in the front of the planner, too. These are the only ones I've done so far, but I'm sure as the year goes by, I will accumulate more lists for these pages.

You'll find an overview of each month when you flip through the labeled tabs on the side of the planner. In this section, I fill in important dates to remember such as birthdays, anniversaries, etc.

I also use the monthly calendar to keep track of bills. I write out every single bill that is due throughout the month, and any time, I come up with a new bill (bummer), I make sure to add it into the calendar so I never miss a payment. I only ever allow myself to check off a bill once the payment has been submitted and subtracted from my bank statement.

Following each month's calendar, you'll find a page for each week of the month. This is where I plan out my entire week, obviously.For each day, I make a list of every single thing I want to get done that day.My blog posts go up on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, so I also make a note in the corner of the day to notify me of which post is going up on those days and highlight it in pink so that it stands out from everything else. I make note of any photoshoots I have on whichever days and the times that they are scheduled for, then highlight these in orange.As I complete each task throughout the day, I check them off because there's few things that are more satisfying than marking something off on my to-do list. #nerdalert

On the opposing page, is a free space for any notes you'd like to make throughout the week. I use this spot to detail the blog posts going up that week. For example:

-3 Favorite Things: Parenthood Season 6, Claw Clips, & Lorac UnzippedBeneath that, on the same page, I keep a running list of random things I'd like to get done in the near future. These are the things that I know will take some time to complete, but I don't want to forget to work on them. Anything that goes unchecked on this list is then carried over to the same spot on the following week's list, so that eventually, it all gets done.I don't put anything here that is under a strict deadline. Those things go straight into the weekly planner page.I also keep a Post-It note stuck to the bottom of this page with a shopping list. Whenever something I need pops into my head, it goes on this list and is later transferred to my grocery list on the fridge when it's time to go shopping. The sticky note also acts as a running wish list for things that I don't necessarily NEED but I would like to look into purchasing in the future. Whatever doesn't get purchased that week (and that's most things) gets moved to next week's list.When I receive invitations in the mail, I always stick them onto the week in which the event occurs. For example, I have my nephew's 1st Birthday Party invitation taped to next week's page because the party is on Sunday, January 23.I always use a paperclip to bookmark the current week in my planner, and I use this to hold notices and paper bills (most of mine are online, but there are a couple that I receive in the mail) until I no longer need to be reminded of them.Toward the back of the planner, there is another page devoted entirely to "notes". Here, I write out the goals that I have planned for the year. I outlined the basics of this section in a previous post called #GOALS: 2016.Finally, there's the page most planners have listing holidays throughout the year. I taped my own page into this area to keep track of the 52-Week Money Saving Challenge that I'm attempting with a friend in order to save up for something fun.There you have it, nerds! This is how I keep my brain semi-sane. Stay tuned for more insight into how my world turns!